The average American’s carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for shrinking Arctic sea ice by nearly 50 square meters each year.

That’s the implication of a new study that finds that each additional metric ton of CO₂ released into the atmosphere directly results in a 3-square-meter loss of sea ice cover at summer’s end — comparable to losing a chunk of ice with a footprint a bit smaller than a two-seat Smart car.

“For the first time now, it is possible to grasp how each one of us contributes to tangible consequences for the global climate system,” says study coauthor Dirk Notz, a climate scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg.

Meltdown

An individual’s impact on Arctic sea ice extent can now be estimated, thanks to new research. Each metric ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere shrinks the average late-summer ice cover

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